Site Mobile Navigation

Three to Vie for the Ballon d’Or

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Franck Ribéry are the finalists for the Ballon d’Or as the world’s top soccer player. Messi has won the last four player of the year awards. He scored 45 goals this year for Argentina and Barcelona before being injured.

■ Striker D. J. Campbell was identified as one of six people arrested in a police investigation into rigged games in England. Campbell has played in the Premier League but is in the second tier with Blackburn. The main allegations center on players deliberately earning yellow cards; many bookmakers allow people to bet on whether a certain player will receive a yellow. (AP)

■ The 2014 World Cup, which will require huge amounts of air travel across Brazil, will produce the equivalent of 2.72 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, FIFA said. That means staging the monthlong tournament will produce as much carbon dioxide as 560,000 passenger cars do in one year. (AP)

A version of this brief appears in print on December 10, 2013, on Page B14 of the New York edition with the headline: Three to Vie for Top Player. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe